PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• Day 6 (and the last day) of our impromptu series on trust, and today, we’re going to talk about childlike faith.
If you squish your mind to way-back-when and remember your own childhood, it’s my sincere hope and prayer that you have at least one memory of looking up to a parent or trusted adult, taking their hand, and nodding in agreement when they explained something to you.
Because that person was someone you were utterly dependent on and who you trusted to take care of you.
You trusted them to keep you safe from harm and if you did get hurt, you trusted them to pick you up and make it better.
This was someone who, to you, knew and understood everything.
Maybe this was the person who made sure you ate dinner every night, brushed your teeth, and who tucked you in at bedtime.
When we’re children, it’s easy to give that kind of trust.
It’s as we get older that we tend to grow cynical and jaded, as well as independent…
Then trust becomes a challenge.
But I want you to borrow my imagination for a moment…
When you think of that child you were, and whoever was the recipient of your childlike trust, how would they respond if you were to stamp your feet, cross your arms, and emphatically declare, “I can do it myself!”?
Now, let’s switch gears.
You’re the trusted adult and a child you care for has just stamped their foot at you and made that same adamant declaration, “I can do it myself!”
But since you’re the adult, you know something that the child does not…
You know the danger or potential heartache that lies ahead.
So you try to gently redirect the child, but they pull away.
Now imagine God Your Heavenly Father and again, put yourself back in the child’s position…
Then imagine you are stamping your feet at Him.
Something to think about…
Jesus used a child’s simple, humble way of trusting as an example of the kind of trust we should have in our Heavenly Father.
In Matthew 18:3-4, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
He wasn’t asking us to pull out the Legos and Barbies and not function as responsible adults…
But He was reminding us to embrace the childlike faith that looks to our Creator and Heavenly Father with complete trust.
To be utterly dependent on Him…
To trust Him to take care of you, no matter the circumstances.
To keep you safe and if you do get hurt, trust Him to pick you up and make it better.
To know with confidence that God knows and understands everything.
To trust that God is watching over you all the time, even when you’re sleeping.
A childlike trust can be summed up by 2 Corinthians 5:7, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Because when we walk by faith, completely trusting in the Lord, it doesn’t matter our circumstances or season of life.
We know He is with us.
Today, as you pray, ask the Holy Spirit to help you embrace your own childlike faith in our Heavenly Father…
To uncross your arms, take His offered hand, and trust Him to lead you, knowing He will never let go or let you down.
